The Arca-Deli Awards were awarded for the third time this year at the SAVE Annual Meeting in Biezenmortel. The Arca-Deli Awards were created to help producers add value to their products by showing that the product, and the conservation work that lies behind it, is valued on a European level. The judges of the award take their job very seriously – part of the judging is, of course, to try all the delicious products, but the judges also look carefully at the background of the product and the packaging and labelling. The judges also provide some feedback for the producers to help make the products even better.

This year the awards were given to the following:

The Spanish organisation Red Andaluza de Semillas “Cultivando Biodiversidad” entered box containing a variety of organic seeds of local varieties. These boxes of seeds are given to new member of the association to help them get started with growing landraces. The box of seeds is also used as part of a campaign to get garden projects (with children, unemployed people etc) interested in using old and local varieties. The Arca-Deli judges liked the concept of the seed boxes and found the entry to be a good, well-presented example of how to promote local plant varieties.

Two entries were received from Frowin Oberrauch member of the new SAVE Network member Sortengarten Südtirol. The entries were an apple schnapps made from the variety “Kalterer Böhmer”, an old variety of apple which gives the schnapps a soft aroma of apple, and the second entry was a jam made with a wild variety of zwetschke-plum. The judges commented that the jam was a a good example of how wône can create a product from a wild variety. Conserving the so-called “crop wild relatives” is an important part of conservation of agrobiodiversity.

An entry from the Szomor Salami Production Plant in Hungary was an opportunity to taste the products of both water buffalo and Hungarian grey cattle, seasoned in the Hungarian way, with spicy paprika. The animals are kept in the national park and graze free-range as a part of a scheme to conserve genetic diversity and protect the natural assets of the area. Linking the national parks with local breeds and local projects is a concept that the SAVE Foundation supports and the Szomor Salami Production Plant is a good example of how this can be done well.

At the the 6th European Seminar on Agrobiodiversity last year in Urnäsch with the theme of “the economic value of local breeds and varieties” the marketing of organic Erteboelle sheep in Denmark was presented. This year it was possible to taste the products with an entry of a salami-type sausage from the family Kortegaard Becher. The sheep are used for extensive grazing in protected areas to restore heath land. The maketing of the products is seen by the Arca-Deli judges as a good way to add extra value to the breed.

The Arca-Deli Awards are popular in Greece and this year there was a further entry from Greece: Farmer Nikolaos Fotiadis sent two entries of products from the autochthonous black pig. The pigs range freely in the meadows of the foothills of Mount Olympus. The Fotiadis family keep a nucleus herd of the black pig that has been developed in the area over centuries and is perfectly adapted to the local climate and the altitude. Unusually for an old pig breed, the meat is very low fat. This makes the bacon that was entered for the Arca-Deli Award very special, the addition of herbs from Mount Olympus sprinkled on the bacon gives an extra-special value to the product. The fresh sausages made from the black pig are enhanced with local herbs and spices as well as local varieties of vegetable.

Overall, the products entered were all of high quality and all met the criteria for the Arca-Deli Awards. The Arca-Deli Awards are not a competition and all entries that are considered deserving of an award receive one. SAVE is pleased to see that the awards are proving so popular and looks forward to the entries in 2014!